


(You Gotta Believe) A Little Change Is Supernatural

by whoovestrings



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: High School AU, Multi, Tokyo Mew Mew AU, coffee shop AU, it says graphic violence but its canon-typical, magical girl au, magnus hits stuff with an axe, more characters/ships to be added along the way, with a side of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-11 14:14:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15974006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoovestrings/pseuds/whoovestrings
Summary: Magnus Burnsides had hoped that his last year of high school would be as not-stressful as possible. He'd get his exams done, hang out with his friends, and possibly win the affections of one Julia Waxman.And now the world is under threat, and Magnus is one of the few people equipped to deal with it.This really wasn't going to plan.





	1. I didn't count on this, before my very first kiss

Magnus checked his watch, and then checked it again. Julia wasn’t late, not by far, but Magnus was early, so it felt like she was. Magnus didn’t want to appear desperate but he knew he was going to be late so he planned on arriving half an hour early. He arrived fifteen minutes after that so he supposed he’d made the right call. The entrance building to the zoo - he still couldn’t believe Julia let him take her to a zoo on their first date - had posters and pamphlets advertising what was inside. Their marketing theme this summer was “endangered animals” apparently. He was busy internally cooing about a cute bear poster, and all the fun facts it had on it, when there was a tap on his shoulder.

“Having fun?” Julia asked. She was slightly smaller than him, but then again, so was everyone. She had long, curly hair, pulled back with a red bandana, and wore a white t-shirt under light blue dungarees. Magnus was surprised, but covered it with a grin and a nod. “Well you’re going to be thrilled to bits when you see what’s actually in the zoo.”

“Is it animals?” Magnus asked, handing Julia her ticket.

“Oh you bet it’s animals.” Julia said, and they headed into the zoo.

Nothing especially remarkable happened at the zoo. Julia, Magnus learned, liked smaller animals, especially lemurs and wildcats. She had two dogs, one of which looked a lot like a wolf apparently, and she was surprisingly good at arcade games, so Magnus spent the rest of the day holding a teddy bear she had won for him since he “seemed to be such a big fan”. Eventually, they stopping for lunch. The cafe was nice, it had plenty of space outside it that was perfect for picnic blankets. 

Magnus was setting up their stuff when Julia said. “Hey, did we get drinks?”

Magnus thought for a second, and looked at the tray that had two portions of noodles and nothing else, before shaking his head.

“I’ll go get some,” Julia said. “And no, you paid for lunch, it’s the least I can do,” She added when Magnus began to say that he’d get them. “You just sit by our stuff and make sure seagulls don’t get it.”

As Magnus sat on the blanket, looking at the enclosure next to the cafe - It was a variety of birds, some tropical, some urban - he noticed a light appearing a couple dozen meters away. It was red and didn’t seem to be emitting from anything, and it was lazily moving towards him, which wasn’t a good sign. Magnus stood up and tried to discreetly walk away from it, but the light followed him. It got closer and closer and it didn’t seem to have any properties other than red light. It wasn’t warm or cold, there really was no light source, just light. Eventually, he gave up and the light stopped, right in front of his chest for a moment, before disappearing inside of him.

It was a weird feeling, and for sure not what he expected. It didn’t hurt, but it felt like he’d just had a shot of really strong coffee, and he had an artificial burst of energy. He decided, perhaps unwisely, to ignore it, and go sit down. Julia only took a few minutes to get drinks, and Magnus really couldn’t focus on anything that happened, except for the fact that he slowly felt the energy draining out of him, until they had finished lunch and Magnus could barely keep his eyes open. Julia was smiling at him, and the sky was really really blue, and then darkness.

When he woke up, it was evening. He was still sitting on the hill, but there wasn’t any other people around, just Julia.

“Oh, you’re awake!” She said, “I got scared that you were ill or something.”

“How long have I been asleep?” Magnus had dreamed about some really weird thing, it was full of static and there was a jellyfish?

“A few hours.” She explained. “I thought you were just gonna nap for like ten minutes, but then you kept sleeping and it got to a point where it where it’d be awkward to wake you so I just “let you sleep.”

“I don’t think I nap for that long though.” Magnus was worried, but he didn’t feel ill, so it couldn’t be that bad, “I’m sorry for making you stay here instead of seeing the rest of the zoo.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Julia said. “There’s still a few hours until closing, we can make it worthwhile.”

The rest of the day was quiet. All the children had been taken home so there was only a few people still wandering around the zoo. They managed to catch the last giraffe talk and feeding of the day, and Magnus was convinced that he had a conversation with a parrot.

“He was talking to me!” He insisted.

“I think he was talking to his friend,” she said, “and maybe telling you to not steal his food.”

They left just before closing, and Magnus only realised he’d been holding Julia’s hand when they had to let go to get in their respective cars. Julia laughed goodnaturedly at Magnus’s blush, and Magnus had an elated feeling in his heart all the way home.

~~~~~

The next day was Monday, so school was back in session, and Magnus told Johann and Avi all about his date, leaving out the part about the weird light. They seemed to be glad for him, but rolled their eyes when he told them he’d fallen asleep halfway through the day. Magnus wasn’t to be deterred, and he rummaged around in his bag to bring out the teddy Julia had given him. He couldn’t get to ask them what he should name it before the worst voice in the world spoke over him.

“Hey Maggie, is that a teddy bear you’re holding?” Marvey. leader of the hammerheads, an almost comically stereotypical school bully. “I know I keep calling you a big baby but you don’t need to act like one.” He high-fived one of his friends, Magnus couldn’t give them the time of day to tell who was who.

“Just because I cry doesn’t mean I’m a baby, asshole.” Magnus said, going to put it back in his bag, but before he did, Marvey snatched it off of him.

“I mean if you’re not a baby then you won’t be needing this,” he said, and threw it to his friend (Jerry?), who caught it and threw it to another one (also Jerry?). Magnus followed them, knowing full well how much of a fool he looked like, until it came back to Marvey and he held it still, one hand on its head, one hand on its arm.

“You probably don’t even want this stupid thing anyway,” he said, tugging slightly on the bear, almost as if he was going to-

“Please don’t break it, Julia gave it to me.” Magnus said, a last ditch effort at diplomacy. When Marvey didn’t stop, and the seams on the bear started audibly breaking, Magnus saw red.

He stormed up to Marvey and lifted him into the air by his shirt collar, not an easy feat, considering he was taller than Magnus and almost as heavily set. He turned pale, and the ripping stopped. Magnus glared at him, fighting back tears and trying to keep his voice steady.

“Give it back.” He said, and Marvey nodded, passing him the teddy bear back. Magnus set him down gently, and then turned to go back to his bag, when he saw that students had grouped around them, hoping for a fight. Magnus cringed, already heating the teacher walking up to them to tell them off.

“What happened here?” Mrs April said, looking between Marvey and Magnus. The rest of the hammerheads had gone back into the crowd.

“Magnus threatened me!” Marvey said, “he picked me up and I thought he was gonna hit me!

“Magnus, why did you do that?” She asked.

“He was breaking my bear.” Magnus said simply, holding up the bear and pointing to the broken neck seam.

“You shouldn’t have toys at school, and that’s no excuse for violence. This is grounds for detention.”

Magnus wanted to argue that he never actually hurt anyone, but he was in enough trouble as it was without talking back against a teacher. Instead, he nodded and put the bear back in his bag glumly, turned back to Avi and Johann, and went silently to his next lesson.

By the time he got out of detention that night, Magnus was tired. The school had called home to inform his moms that he wasn’t going to be home until later and why that was, and Magnus knew that they wouldn’t be mad, especially when he explained why he’d done it, but it still sucked not being able to walk home with his friends. It was dark when he stepped outside, and the streets were almost empty. Winter really was hitting hard. Magnus got out his phone and set off down the footpath, wanting to listen to music and not have to worry about cars, when a large rat ran across the path in front of him. Rats weren’t normally a thing to take note of, but this one was huge, almost as big as a cat. Magnus jogged to catch up with it and see where it had gone, and when he looked around the corner, he almost dropped his phone.

The rat was growing at an alarming rate, it’s eyes started to glow red and its light brown fur was replaced by a pitch black chitin, with streaks of colour running through it. It was almost the size of a small horse when he heard someone yell from beside him.

“There you are!” She was a girl around Magnus’s age, but he’d never seen her around school. “It’s great I caught you now and not later but I’d really love the time to explain.”

“Explain what?” Magnus said, looking between the girl and the rat, who hadn’t quite stopped growing and was screeching very loudly.

“Later,” she said, handing him a small golden token. “Take this, it’ll help you, I’ll tell you what’s going on afterwards.” And she ran a few meters back. The rat rounded on him, and Magnus clutched the token tightly. It was almost warm in his hand. The rat leaped at him.

“Protect me, please!” He yelled, and shut his eyes tight, not sure what to expect. The rat never hit, and he was instead lifted off his feet. He felt like he was underwater and when he opened his eyes, all he saw was white light, and bright ribbons wrapping themselves around him. This went on for a few seconds before he was let down gently. His hands were empty, and the rat was dazed a few meters off. The girl was cheering.

“It worked!” She yelled, “now quick, call on an attack!”

Magnus didn’t quite know what that meant, but he held out his hand, hoping that maybe he had magic now, and could shoot this rat with some fire. Instead, a heavy weight caught him off guard and he looked down to see an axe in his hand. It was ornately decorated, but still looked like it could hit hard. Also, his long sleeves were gone, and he was wearing fluffy fingerless gloves. That was an issue for after he stopped this rat from murdering him. He swung a few times, getting used to its weight, before the rat got up and ran at him again.

Magnus swung the axe with both hands, connecting with the rat’s head with a sickening crunch. There was slick black ooze on its face now, and Magnus tried to not think of it as an innocent creature; it was more like an enemy in a video game. He hit again, still aiming for the head, but he went wide and instead clipped its shoulder. The rat reared back and knocked him over, and his elbow stung from the impact.

He scrambled to his feet, barely dodging the rat’s sharp claws, and swung the axe one last time at the rat’s neck. It sunk in deep, and the rat screeched one last time, before it simply poofed out of existence. A puddle of dark ooze spilled out onto the floor, and in the middle of it, a rat, normal sized and thankfully unharmed. It took one look at Magnus and scampered off back into the bushes. Magnus looked around in shock, before spotting the girl that had gotten him into this mess. She was walking over to him, surprisingly calm considering what had just happened.

She was shorter than Magnus, and had deep brown skin, emphasised by her stark white hair. She wore a light blue turtleneck, and a long skirt with gold trim. “I’m Lucretia,” she said, as if that made the situation any more comprehensible.

“Magnus, charmed,” Magnus said, “What just- you just- I just- the rat- the axe-” there was no way he could finish his thoughts. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he could focus on the logistics of a magic axe, and a giant rat, and his sudden proficiency in fighting, and none of it made any kind of sense.

“This’ll take a while to explain.” Lucretia said, “come to the starblaster cafe tomorrow after school, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

“One thing I need to know right here, right now.” He said, gesturing to his outfit, which, when he looked down, seemed to be comprised of a lot of fur. “How do I change back into my normal clothes?”


	2. This isn’t the path we choose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus meets some new friends. Taako casts Magic Missile. Merle isn't here yet.

Finding the Starblaster cafe wasn’t too difficult, all things considered. It was almost obnoxiously decorated, and it didn’t know whether to be themed after a spaceship or a pirate ship. When he stepped inside, he was greeted by a gnomish man? Boy? Magnus hadn’t been around enough gnomes to know the difference. He was tanned and had a fancy orange moustache. He held out his hand for a handshake, and Magnus shook it.

“I’m Davenport,” he said, simply. “You must be the new recruit. Lucretia’s in the back room.”

Magnus chuckled nervously, “new recruit might be a stretch, I don’t know what this is all about, I just fought a big rat and that’s it.”

“Oh, Magnus, you’re here!” Lucretia emerged from a door behind the counter. “It’s good you showed up, I was scared we might have frightened you off.”

“Yeah, that’d be a fair assumption.” Magnus said.  
“So what is all this? Am I a superhero now? Did you make me a superhero?”

“Not quite,” Lucretia said, “there’s some sort of infestation in this city. Animals like that rat you fought are being transformed into monsters intent of wreaking havoc and we don’t know why or how. Whilst researching them, we discovered a different sort of energy. Certain people have it, and, when activated, it can give them almost superhuman abilities. We want you to find other people with this energy, and recruit them in fighting these monsters. For the good of this city and maybe the Earth, do you accept.”

“One, of course I’ll accept.” Magnus said, “Two, how long have you been working on that speech?”

“I haven’t actually practiced that, I just get really into it sometimes,” Lucretia said, “oh! Also, we have the voidfish. It’ll help you with identifying possible recruits and dealing with the aftermath of fights. Keep him safe.”

As if on cue, a jellyfish floated through the door, it seemed to have a nebula swirling in its bell, and it floated in front of Magnus for a few seconds, before diving into his backpack and settling down, making a noise that sounded like synthetic humming.

“As far as we’re aware,” Davenport said, “you will feel a certain kind of bond towards the other people with powers. We don’t know too much about this, it’s all still experimental.”

“That’s reassuring,” Magnus said. “So should I go off to try to find monsters, and I guess monster hunters? I’ll check up on you guys when that happens.”

“Wait, one more thing” Lucretia said, “do you need a job? The starblaster is an actual cafe, as well as a front for our research. We’ll pay, don't worry, we just need some help keeping this place running. Also you’re probably going to want to be around her a lot anyway.”

“Sure,” Magnus said, “Mama’s always harping on about me getting a job so I might as well. I was gonna ask if I should submit a resume but I think we’re past that point. For now, I think I need a nap and some time to process… everything.”

~~~~~

Magnus sat on his bed, examining the token Lucretia had given him. It was gold, and had a hoop at the top so it could be attached to a necklace. He’d have to do that, otherwise he knew for sure that he’d lose it. On one side it had a planet engraved in it, and around that planet was 12 different coloured gems. He turned to the voidfish, who had flown out of his bag and settled down next to him when he came home.

“Do I have to give the other recruits these things?” Magus asked. The voidfish hummed in a way Magnus assumed to be yes. “Where do I get more of them?” The Voidfish glowed and floated upwards, leaving behind another pendant. It then floated back down to it, glowed again, and it was gone. “Okay, that’s cool. Also, do you have a name?” A different hum, for no. “Can I name you?” An excited hum. “Okay uhhh, how about Fisher. Because I already have a fish called Steven-“ he pointed to the tank on his dresser, where a goldfish was sleeping in amongst some plants “so you two will be like Fisher Stevens.” The voidfish didn’t say anything about that. “It’s funny to me, okay.”

Magnus walked up to the mirror on his wardrobe door. He turned the pendant over in his hands, wondering how he would activate it. He tried to feel if there was any instinctive part of it, like he would know in his heart what he was trying to do, but nothing was coming up.

“Hey, pendant?” He asked, “I know this isn’t a danger situation, but I just wanna get used to this whole transformation thing. Can you do that for me?” There was silence for a moment, before Magnus’s vision went white. The same strings of light surrounded him, almost knitting themselves into place around him. After a few seconds, his feet found solid ground, and he looked in the mirror.

His outfit was different, to say the least. The fluffy gloves that he had noticed before were still there, so he assumed everything was the same as it was before. He had a light brown jumpsuit on, with fluff around the shorts, which came to just above his knees. He had a belt, though it seemed to be more for decoration than anything, and a cropped jacket, made of the same fluff. He reached up to touch it and it was almost impossibly soft, so more probably made out of magic than out of fur. The pendant had left his hands and had fastened itself to his jacket, like an ornate button. He was so busy admiring his outfit that he almost didn’t look at his face, and he had to keep himself from shouting out in surprise when he did. Atop his head sat two round, fluffy ears. If he concentrated, he could move them. His mind raced for a moment before settling on bear. They were bear ears. He was a bear. That at least explained the weird increase in strength.

“Okay pendant, you can change me back now.”

~~~~~

Magnus was on high alert the next week, looking at as many people as he could, and hoping to somehow sense their energy. He didn’t really understand what that would feel like until he got to physics on Thursday. The teacher was late and the classroom wasn’t unlocked, so he and his classmates were trying their best not to block the corridor. There was an almost physical tug on his heart. An elf had just rounded the corner. He had long hair, intricately braided, and freckles covered his light brown skin. He was beautiful, wearing a light purple sweater over galaxy print leggings. Magnus tore his eyes away from him, and instead focused intently on the floor. Physics passed in a blur, and when it was over, Magnus rushed to the bathroom. Empty, good. He opened his bag and Fisher poked its bell out.

“Was that a bond or am I just being gay?” He asked. Fisher giggled, and Magnus scowled. “I’m serious! I think that was the magic bond, can you feel it too?” Fisher hummed yes. “Okay, now I gotta tell him that he might have superpowers and he needs to help save the world.”

Magnus guided Fisher back into his bag and headed back to the science corridor. There was still one class not dismissed yet, and hopefully it was his. After about a minute the door opened and students began heading towards wherever they had lunch, and right at the back of the crowd was the elf boy. Bingo. Magnus tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey uhh, hi…” he trailed off, not knowing his name.

“Taako.” He said

“Awesome. Hi Taako. This is gonna sound weird but you… I don’t know how to explain, you have an energy- you’re special- I don’t know how to explain this.”

“Hey, big boy, calm down, think about your words,” Taako said.

“I feel… a pull towards you, Taako. In my heart, and I think that means-“

“Hey,” Taako interrupted, “not that I’m not flattered, and also you look like you could lift me with no effort and I’m totally into that, but I’m gonna have to say no, I can’t go on a date with you.”

“What? No, this is different!”

“I mean that’s exactly what every guy before you has said, so forgive me for not believing you. Now if you’ll be so kind, I have friends to catch up with.” And with that, Taako was off.

Magnus really needed to work on his sales pitch.

It was the end of the day when he saw Taako again. His walk home started the same way as Magnus’s, but he went off down a side street that Magnus knew lead to a park. He made an excuse to his friends about having left something in the park, and headed off after Taako.

He looked like he was waiting for something leaning against the swing set and looking up from his phone every now and again. The park was empty, which was perfect.

“Hey Taako!” Magnus shouted, and Taako jumped to alertness, scowling at Magnus.

“Hey! I told you no so leave me alone!” He said.

“Taako, I’m not trying to ask you out. This is actually serious.” Magnus took off his bag and Fisher floated out. “I think you’re special, Taako. You have an energy inside of you that not many people have. I have it, and I need your help. Bad things will happen if you don’t.”

Taako was left speechless. He slowly walked up to the Voidfish, looking between it and Magnus. “You… you’re serious. This is a magic flying jellyfish.” A light appeared behind Taako, way up in the sky. It meandered down to Taako, and paused behind him for a second.

“Hey Taako, this is gonna be really weird but you’re going to get a lot of energy all at once, and then you’re gonna get super tired.” And then it hit him. Magnus put his arm around his shoulder. “Hey, it’s gonna be better if you sit down.” Taako mumbled slightly, and let himself be lead to one of the benches.

“You weren’t kidding.” Taako chuckled, “Jesus Christ, what magic drugs are these?” 

“I don’t know, but you’re gonna hit one hell of a low in about a minute.” And then there was a sinking feeling in Magnus’s stomach. What looked like black oil, sliding along the ground across the park, directly towards a pigeon. “Hey, if it’s okay I’m gonna check something out.” He got up and jogged towards the pigeon, maybe if he got it out of the way, it’d be safe. He was too late. The oil pooled around the pigeons feet, trapping it on the floor, then enveloped it, before being absorbed. The pigeon began growing rapidly, and Magnus backed away slowly, fumbling for the pendant in his pocket.

Magnus spoke without thinking. “Power pendant! Metamorphosis!” He didn’t bother to open his eyes this time, knowing what he’d see. He touched down, and summoned his axe, and then realised that there might be a problem. The bird was flying. He couldn’t reach it. He glanced back at Taako. Out cold.

“Fisher!” He shouted. “Give Taako a pendant, he’ll need it when he’s awake.” Fisher flew over to Taako, and placed a pendant in his hands. Magnus turned back to the bird, which was now as tall as he was, and the same black with rainbow streaks as the rat had been. “Come and get me!” He yelled, with a lot more bravado than he actually felt. The bird swooped down and Magnus swung at it, feeling the axe collide with its wing. The bird screeched and flew back up, circling around and preparing for another attack. It swooped down once, out of range, and Magnus was confused for a moment until it circled around and flew into his back, knocking him to the ground.

The superpowers obviously didn’t have the ability to lessen pain, because Magnus could feel talon scratches along his back. He tried to breathe steadily again and picked himself up, looking back at Taako.

“Hope you wake up soon!” He shouted, “I could really do with backup right now!” Maybe it was unhealthy to wake someone up so soon after their powers were activated, or maybe Magnus was meant to be awake sooner, but he needed help now, so throwing caution to the wind, he ran over to Taako and shook him awake. The bird was still readying to attack, so he had a few seconds at least.

Taako’s eyes opened painfully slowly, and the bird screeched again, so Magnus took his cue to run away, drawing it away from Taako. It swooped again and Magnus swung at the same wing as before, trying to stop it from flying. He hit, and the bird was definitely flying a lot slower, and a lot less gracefully, but it was still flying.

“Taako!” Magnus shouted, “do you see that pendant you have?”

“Yes?” Taako shouted back.

“I need you to use that. It’ll channel your powers or something. I’m kinda new at this!” The bird came directly at Magnus, and he dove out of the way. He saw Taako get to his feet, hold the pendant above his head, and then he was illuminated.

It was almost too bright to watch, but Magnus could see the silhouette of a person made out of light, with the same strings he saw circling around him and forming clothes. A few seconds of this before the light stopped and Taako stood, completely changed.

He was wearing a white shirt, with a ribbon around the collar, the pendant sitting in the middle of the bow. A lilac skirt with white ruffles at the bottom, a deep purple jacket that reached his knees, with short poofy sleeves, and gloves that only went around his thumbs, laced up on the back. He had similar ears to Magnus, and a long bottlebrush tail. He was looking down at himself in confusion.

“Have your realisations after killing that big bird!” Magnus shouted, “just hold your hand out like you’re holding something. You’ll summon your weapon!” Taako held his hand in front of him, and an ornate wand formed in his hands. He flicked it about experimentally, and sparks and smoke appeared out of the end. This whole display has attracted the attention of the bird, who flew towards Taako. He jumped out of the way once, then twice, and on the third jump, he leapt inhumanely high into the air and landed deftly on top of the climbing frame. He aimed the wand at the bird, and three silver arrows shot out of the top, hitting the bird in its chest. It squawked once, and then dissolved, leaving behind a pool of black oil, and the bird, which flew away. Fisher went over to the oil, absorbing it, and slowly processing it down into nothingness.

“I’m sorry for getting angry at you.” Taako said, experimentally jumping from the top of the climbing frame and landing perfectly on the floor. “You actually do have magic powers. I have magic powers. Also, why are we furries now?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but I’ve got bear strength and I guess you have the acrobatic ability of a lemur?”

“I think it’s a mongoose.” Taako said, swishing his tail up to his hands. “Yeah, defo mongoose. Lemurs are more fluffy, this feels like wire.”

“Can I feel?” Magnus said, reaching his hand out.

Taako snatched it away. “No, don’t touch my tail!” He looked at Magnus, probably realising the absurdity of that comment, and burst out laughing.

“What the fuck have we gotten ourselves into?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is [Magnus's outfit](http://tmvagabond.tumblr.com/post/177779929933/outfit-refs-for-a-fic-i-plan-on-posting-soon-its) and [heres Taako's!](http://tmvagabond.tumblr.com/post/178259892693/outfits-for-fic-part-two-now-its-taako-time)


	3. But there's so much we could lose

Taako’s Introduction to the team went about the same as Magnus’s. He accepted the responsibility, and also the job at The Starblaster. They exchanged numbers so they could be reached at a moments notice, and It was agreed that Magnus would keep Fisher, as he was the most experienced with his powers.

“There is one other thing we wanted to tell you about,” Lucretia said, “you’re not the first people to be transformed. We had one before you. His name was - is - Brian.”

“What happened to him?” Magnus asked, almost anticipating the answer.

“We don’t know,” Davenport said, “our sensors detected a huge burst of negative energy, and then nothing. There’s been no monsters to come out of that incident, and we never heard of Brian again. We think this infestation got him and overloaded his being.” Magnus thought back to the pigeon from yesterday, and how he tried to stop it. “We just wanted to warn you, because you were so close to the initial infection yesterday.”

Taako and Magnus were silent. The reality of their situation was crashing down on their shoulders, as if the cuts that were still stinging on Magnus’s back weren’t enough of a reminder.

“That’s just a theory, though.” Lucretia said, “maybe Brain is fine and he just got scared and fled. We don’t know. You are free to leave whenever you want, we only ask that you return the pendants. We don’t want a bunch of rouge superheroes running around.”

“I’m staying,” Magnus said. “I know the job is risky, but if it saves people, I’m willing to take that risk.”

“I’m staying too,” Taako said, decidedly less certainly than Magnus, “I need to help people.”

And with that, they were dismissed.

Magnus had the same sinking feeling in his chest the next few days. His brain was telling him there was danger around, but there wasn’t any monsters to be seen. Avi and Johann picked up on it, as did Julia.

“Magnus, is there anything wrong?” She asked, “you’ve been acting weird all week.”

Magnus had just had fear rush through his heard for supposedly no reason for the fifth time that day. “I’m fine, Jules,” he lied, “Just feeling a bit off.”

“Do you need a day off?” Julia asked, “it might be stress from school.”

Magnus almost laughed. school was perhaps the least stressful thing about his life right now. A day off sounded good, though, he could do with the extra training. “Maybe,” He said. He’d discuss it with Taako. Team bonding could only be a good thing. He got out his phone and texted Taako.

[Sent 12:35] Gonna take a day off school. Feeling like garbage and wanting to train. You wanna come with?

[Received 12:42] Hell yeah, I’ll skip school. I can do any day that isn’t Wednesday. Chemistry test

[Received 12:43] Also I’ve been feeling bad since I got powers. Is it a side effect or?

[Sent 12:45] Tuesday then. Also not that I’m aware of, no.

Magnus almost just stayed in bed on Tuesday. The bad feeling had followed him home, and he wasn’t entirely sure how to get rid of it. But he got up at nine, called school to let them know he wasn’t in because of “illness” and texted Taako his plans. He wanted to go somewhere they wouldn’t be disturbed. There was a big field on the outskirts of town where he liked to walk his dog. He’d never seen anyone else there in the years he’d lived in Neverwinter.

[Sent 9:12] Can you drive?

[Received 9:15] No, I’m gay

[Sent 9:15] Fair enough. I’ll pick you up.

Taako didn’t want to meet at his house for some reason, so Magnus found him outside a convenience store.

“Get in, loser, we’re going magic training.”

The field was empty, but the sinking feeling in Magnus’s chest grew worse when they got there. Maybe he should have stayed in bed. 

Taako was a natural at the transformation, but he struggled to get a hang of using his magic.

“Are you sure I can’t swap these around?” He said after he made three failed attempts at casting a spell.

“I don’t know.” Magnus shrugged. “I’ve never really tried summoning anything other than my axe. It’s worked well so far. Hey, do you think this thing works on trees as well as monsters?”

“Do I look like an axe expert?” Taako said, “if it was a normal blade, it’d probably blunt it, but it’s magic so it’ll probably work. Why’d you wanna cut down a tree though?”

“For fun.” Magnus lightly pushed Fisher off from its perch on his shoulder and swung at the base of a tree in a way he assumed would be effective, and it carved through it like butter. The tree wobbled from side to side, before falling towards Taako.

“Run!” Magnus yelled, and Taako leapt backwards, landing almost half a dozen meters away.

“What was that for!” He shouted.

“I didn’t know it’d be a super axe!”

“It’s a magic axe, what were you expecting?”

Magnus shrugged, and walked up to another tree. Maybe that was a fluke. The axe hit, and embedded itself further in the tree than seemed possible, but didn’t fell it in one.

“Maybe it’s a one time thing.” Taako said. “Maybe my magic was a one time thing.”

“I don’t think it’s that.” Magnus said, “You just gotta concentrate. Feel the magic inside of you. That’s how I manage to transform and summon… Railsplitter. That’s the axe’s name now.”

Taako rolled his eyes, but turned towards a large stack of rocks on the side of a ledge. He closed his eyes, held his wand out, and focused. Slowly, a light formed at the top of the wand, before forming into the same three arrows, that flew out and crashed onto the rocks. Some of the smaller ones burst, sending rock fragments flying everywhere, but the larger ones toppled over backwards, revealing an opening. Taako looked at Magnus, eyes wide, and that would have been the end of it if not for the voice.

“What was that?” Shouted a German accent, seemingly from within the cave. “Leave me alone! My master plan isn’t done yet!” Magnus quickly de-transformed, and ran back to his car, watching Taako do the same. Close to the road was a dwarven boy. He was kneeling on the ground, and had gardening equipment around him he was wearing denim overalls and had glasses on a chain. His beard was short, but styled in a way Magnus recognised as male. He hadn’t noticed them yet, but Magnus felt a pull towards him. Fisher gave a token to Taako, who placed it in the Dwarf’s pocket, also without him noticing. They kept going until they reached the car, and only then could Magnus properly breath.

“Do you think he saw us?” Magnus said.

“I don’t know, but he might be suspicious as to how I blasted a bunch of rocks.” Taako said.

“How was he even down there?” Magnus asked. “Why was he even down there.” The sinking feeling had gone back down to normal levels. “Do you think this terrible feeling is magic?”

“Maybe,” taako said, “is he one of those creatures? Do they normally talk?”

“I know about as much as you, Taako.”

The dwarven boy was still outside.

“Should we tell him?” Taako asked.

“Your turn.” Magnus replied. Taako rolled his eyes and got out of the car. Magnus rolled down the window so he could hear what was going on.

“Hey, pal.” Taako said, and the dwarf looked up. “What’s your name?”

“Merle Highchurch,” He said, “why?”

“Well, Merle, I think I have news that could change your life.” He took his pendant out from under his shirt. He had it on a necklace, Magnus noted, maybe he could ask how he did it. “If you have one of these, that is.”

“I don’t think I have one of them. Do you mean that specific one or just a necklace, because the answer to both is no.”

“Are you sure about that?” Taako asked, “Check your pockets.” Merle looked at him suspiciously, before patting down his many, many pockets, until he found the pendant.

“Is this some kinda magic trick?” Taako laughed, he was closer than he thought.

“Not exactly, but do you know the Starblaster Cafe?”

“Yeah! That guy that works there, Dav, he gives me discounts sometimes.”

“Well, if you come there at, hmm, let’s say six thirty this evening, we can discuss further.” Magnus grimaced, that definitely sounded suspicious.

“Well, I was planning on heading there anyway, so I guess I’ll meet you there…” Merle paused, waiting for a name.

“Oh, Taako, and my friend that is not so conspicuously watching from the car is Magnus.”

“Well, I’ll meet you there Taako, and hi Magnus!” He waved in his direction. Magnus awkwardly waved back. Taako got back in the car, and they drove home.

6:30 rolled around too quickly for Magnus’s liking and he found himself again in the Starblaster, making himself a coffee to pass the time, because Merle was late. He and Taako were part way through a discussion on how jewellery making worked, when the bell above the door rang, and Merle arrived.

“Sorry I’m late. My brain decided it was nap time. Hi Dav!”

Davenport hopped down from behind the counter, fished the maps, and started explaining to Merle what they did. When he finished, Merle looked rightfully confused.

“Magnus and Taako had an encounter with the creatures before they got briefed, so it was easier for them to catch on,” Lucretia pointed out, “Could you two transform, show him we’re not lying?” Magnus got his pendant out, and bumped it against Taako’s, with the aim at sharing his proficiency for transformation. The lights, the ribbons, the vague feeling of floating, all of it was becoming almost normal. When they finished, Taako jumped, did a cool flip, and landed in Magnus’s arms.

“Okay, I believe that.” Merle said. “Do I just…” and he held out his pendant. The same thing happened to him, and when the light cleared, he was wearing a green robe with red flowers on it. The sleeves were short and ruffled, and the robe ended just above the knees, and similar ruffled shorts he didn’t seem to have any animal parts, until he turned around. Small brown wings, and a matching feathered tail. When Magnus pointed them out, he flipped them experimentally. They didn’t seem like they had the ability to fly.

Merle took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “God, they were really starting to hurt for some-“ he cut himself off, and looked around the room, amazed. “My eyes work.”

“Good for you?” Magnus said.

“No, no, I can see without my glasses.” He said “And I can hear more? Can you guys stop breathing so loud?”

“Wait, is your superpower super senses?” Taako asked. “Wait, hold you hand out.” Merle did, and a single flower grew from his palm.

“Plant magic,” Magnus said, amazed. “Hey, why does everyone else get cool magic and I get an axe?”

“Hey Magnus, Maybe I can make a flower grow on you.” Merle said, and aimed his powers at Magnus. He didn’t feel any plants on him, which he was grateful for, but he did feel a tingle in his back, and then the dull ache that had been there since the bird’s attack was gone.

“Wait, do you have healing magic?” 

Merle looked at his hands and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Hey, wait, try this.” Taako removes a plaster from his hand. “I messed up whilst cooking yesterday.” Merle took Taako’s hand, focusing intently on the cut. There was a moment when nothing happened, and then Taako’s hand glowed green, and healed. The cut was gone, but so were the blisters on his fingers and the rough skin around his nails.

“Cool! We have a healer now,” Magnus said, “also, how important is it that people don’t know about our powers?”

“Well, we can’t expect to keep quiet about all this forever.” Lucretia said, “The infected creatures are kinda hard to miss.”

“Okay, cool,” Taako said, “we were training in a field that was meant to be empty, and someone with a stupid voice started yelling at us from inside a cave.”

Magnus laughed, “wait, what did he sound like again? think I forgot.”

Taako made his voice even higher and put on an exaggerated accent, “he sounded like this! Get out of my weird cave that I live in apparently!”

Magnus kept laughing until he saw the look on Lucretia’s face. She was shocked.

“I think that’s Brian,” She said, looking at Davenport, “Brian might be alive!”

“So,” Taako said, “do you want us to go get him for you?”

~~~~~

After stocking up on snacks, they all piled into Magnus’s car, heading towards where they last saw Brian. Lucretia was rambling and bouncing ideas off of Davenport.

“So he’s obviously not dead but maybe he’s hurt? But his last transformation was on the other side of town, if he was hurt, he’d go to a hospital, not a cave in a field. Could he be possessed? We’ve never seen how the infection affects humans so-“

“Lucretia, it’s gonna be fine.” Magnus said, “We’ll talk it out, get him back, and if it has to come to blows, then we’re ready.”

There was silence in the car until they reached the car park. When they stepped out of the car, Merle had to sit back down.

“This Place feel like garbage to y’all too?” Magnus and Taako nodded. “I can hear things. Like lots of little footsteps. They’re everywhere.”

Davenport looked at Lucretia, worried. Magnus lead them to the cave, and gently moved aside some more of the rocks blocking the entrance.

“Do you guys want to wait outside, or are you coming with?” He asked. Lucretia climbed inside the cave. “I guess that’s means you’re coming with.” Inside the cave, it was pitch black, but Taako, Davenport, and Merle didn’t seem to notice, and continued on anyway.

“Guys wait!” Magnus called. “We can’t see down here!”

“Way to give away our position,” Taako hissed, lighting the end of his wand.

“Hello? Who’s there?” Shouted the voice from inside the cave. There was footsteps accompanying the voice, approaching them.

“We’re not here to hurt you!” Merle said. “We just wanna know who you are and why you’re out here.” The footsteps continued, and everyone could hear smaller footsteps alongside it.

“I, my dears,” and he came into the light, “am the Black Spider. And this is my home.”

He was a tall drow, with far too many eyes, and far too many arms. He was gaunt, almost skeletal. His eyes were solid black with coloured streaks, and his fangs and claws looked too sharp to be natural. He was wearing a white shirt, covered in dirt and dust, dark gray leggings, and an offset black apron, with a white spider emblazoned on it. His pendant was cracked and the same black as his eyes. Lucretia took a step back. This wasn’t the Brian she was expecting.

“What happened to you?” Magnus said. Subconsciously covering Taako and Merle with his arms.

“I became enlightened,” Brian said simply, “I used to work for you and have your poofy frilly magic, but then my dear Bryan-“ and a spider the size of a large dog scuttled up beside him “- almost got infected, and I stopped it, I didn’t want him to be hurt. But then I realised, if he’s infected, he’s not going to be hurt by anyone. And neither will any of these spiders.” The footsteps made sense. Dozens, if not hundreds of impossibly large spiders swarmed around them. Magnus felt sick.

“Lucretia, Davenport, I think this is the point where you get out.” Magnus said. And they backed away slowly, Davenport guiding Lucretia through the dark. Magnus summoned his axe.

“You go for the big one, I’ll get the small ones,” Taako said, slightly panicked, “Merle, I don’t know, figure your powers out on the go.”

They ran at Brian and his entourage, Taako blasting spells, and Magnus trying to keep Bryan in his sights. It was gross, Magnus almost couldn’t look at it up close, but he aimed for the legs, disabling them two at a time. He was definitely getting bitten, but he tried to block that out and focus on the spider in front of him. When it’s last legs were gone, he aimed for its head, but his arm locked still mid-swing, and when he looked over, it was stuck with thick cobwebs. Brian was scowling at him.

“He’s my friend!” He shouted, “he’s been my pet for years now! You can’t kill him!”

“I have to!” Magnus shouted back. “He’ll be back and you’ll be back, I promise.”

“Why would I want to be back?” Brian asked. “I’m so much more powerful. I have an army now!” Taako and Merle did seem to be overwhelmed by the spiders. “Maybe you’ll be part of my army as well.” Magnus’s legs had gone numb. He couldn’t move. There was probably a lot of venom in those spider bites.

“Merle! Help!” He shouted, and Merle stopped summoning little plants from the floor to ensnare the spiders, and stumbled over to Magnus. He grabbed the arm that wasn’t covered in spider webs, and attempted to heal. The numbness in his legs dissipated, and the bite wounds healed themselves, but more interestingly, Magnus felt like his left hand was rather empty. It was the same feeling he had when he was without his axe, so he held his hand out, and a shield formed itself on his arm. Brian was taken aback, and Magnus took that time to bash him with the shield. He fell to the floor rather unceremoniously.

“Taako, now!” Taako seemed to instinctively know what to do, and sent three bolts of magic flying towards Brian. The cave was lit up for a moment, but then fell into darkness again.

There was silence. No spider footsteps, no talking, just their laboured breathing to echo off the cave walls.

“What’s going on?” Said Brain, and Magnus levelled his axe towards him. The webs on his arm were gone.

“No, please, don’t hurt me.” He whimpered. Taako lit up his wand again.

Brian was a normal drow now. His eyes were silver, almost white, and his extra limbs and unnatural teeth and claws were gone. A spider, presumably Bryan, crawled onto his hand, and he held it close to his chest.

“I don’t think I want to have magic anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One week. The "updates on Wednesdays" schedule lasted one week
> 
> [As always, outfit refs are here!](http://tmvagabond.tumblr.com/post/178517319833/two-more-to-add-to-the-list-brian-and-bryan-and)


	4. Team up!  Are you up for it?

Brian would’ve been a valuable addition to the team, Magnus thought, but if he wanted to leave, he was well within his rights. He stayed at the Starblaster to get the full story, and to run a few tests. He had been holding Bryan close to him all day, and when Lucretia pointed out that the cafe was open, and maybe a spider wouldn’t be the best thing to attract customers, he moved to the break room.

“You okay?” Magnus asked when he arrived after school. Brian shook his head.

“It was horrible,” he said, his voice small. “I felt nothing. I didn’t want to eat or drink, I just wanted power. To amass an army and take it back to… to… I don’t know. I know there’s someone though.” Brian had food around him, and a lot of empty plates. He must have been gone for a while. “You can have some of the food, dear. Lucretia said I wasn’t hungry enough to need medical attention, but Davenport still wanted to feed me anyway.”

“He’s a good man,” Magnus said, “but I get why you want to leave.” He rested his hand on the table. “To be fair, I’m pretty shaken up about it. If you don’t mind me asking, was it controlling yo-“ he stopped dead. Something was on his hand. Brian giggled. It was Bryan. On his hand. “Does he bite?” Magnus whispered.

“Of course he bites, he’s a spider,” Brian said, laughing again at Magnus’s shocked face. “He doesn’t bite me though.” And he picked up the spider, letting it crawl along his fingers. “I hope I keep that part of my powers, communing with spiders. I’ve grown used to petting Bryan.”

“Is that why you had an army of spiders?” Magnus asked, “they listened to you?”

“That, and the fact that they’re everywhere.” Brian said, “I could infect one spider, and then it could infect more spiders, and they could go out and infect more spiders, and no one would notice because they’re so small.”

“Wait, so when I felt like there was infected monsters all around me last week, that was spiders. Everywhere.”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

The door opened behind them. “What are you guys talking about?” Lucretia said, “Brian, we need to get you home, your family is probably worried sick, we’re sorry for keeping you here another day.”

“We could explain what happened,” Magnus suggested, “people are going to find out about the magic one way or another.”

“I guess it is safer, now that Brian has quit,” Lucretia said, “but I don’t want this creature targeting your friends and family. Brian was only able to survive because of his magic, a normal person wouldn’t stand a chance.”

The door opened again, and Davenport stepped in, looking worried.

“Someone’s taken our equipment.”

“What?” Lucretia said.

“I was going to set up for Brian’s physical and several machines and some of the pendants are gone. Did you move them?”

“Not that I’m aware of, no,” said Lucretia, “Magnus, did you?” Magnus shook his head, in truth, he didn’t know what machines they were talking about, or that they had a stash of pendants.

“We have security cameras,” Brian pointed out, “that could help.”

Davenport scampered over to the back of the room, and booted up an old looking computer, tapping his foot when a program took too long to load. Eventually, he had the security footage up, and was backtracking through the camera monitoring the research room. Magnus had never been in it before, but it had a lot of equipment, almost ripped straight out of an episode of Star Trek, stacks and stacks of books were on the tables, some textbooks, and some journals. There was a separate section of the room with a library of novels.

“I like to read,” Lucretia said, noticing Magnus examining the room, “and I’m trying to complete my English degree.”

Magnus was about to respond, when there was a figure in the footage. They came in at around midnight, went straight for the pendants, and then took several small machines and put them in a bag. The footage was dark and grainy, but the figure seemed to be elven, rather portly, and smartly dressed. They came out of the room, and exited through the cafe’s front door.

“Didn’t we have the alarms set last night?” Lucretia said.

“We should have…” Davenport said, but then thought about it, “I think… I don’t think I put the alarms on yesterday. We were tired from finding Brian, and we came here late, and we were just so busy it must have slipped my mind.”

“We just need to get them back,” Lucretia said, “If the wrong people get a hold of this information, it could lead to disaster.”

“What do you want us to do?” Magnus asked.

“Just get Brian home, and we’ll handle investigations,” Davenport said, “just keep a look out for any suspicious activity.”

So Magnus did. Brian’s parents were glad to see him home safe, and thanked Magnus for finding him, but then life went on as normal for a while.

“Have you seen a guy, like maybe five feet tall, elf, I think he has a moustache? Like a fancy moustache.” Magnus was guessing at this person’s characteristics. From the vague blob of pixels, nothing really stood out too much, and surprisingly, his investigations were leading nowhere.

“I think you should just give up the search,” Avi said in line at lunch one day. “Whatever this guy has stolen isn’t worth all this hassle, and if it is, just call an investigator.”

“Yeah, like, if someone stole my violin,” Johann said, “Yeah I’d be pretty upset, but I could buy another violin eventually, and besides, it’s a business they’ve stolen from. They make money. They can replace things easy peasy.”

“I guess you’re right,” Magnus said, “but some of that stuff had… emotional value, and we don’t really wanna let go of that, you know.”

They sat down, and an impossibly young child sat down with them.

“I hear you’re looking for someone,” He said, “I’m Angus McDonald, trainee detective, criminology student.”

“How old are you?” Magnus asked.

“I’m ten this year, sir.” Angus said.

Magnus groaned. “Why am I surrounded by geniuses!”

“Well, you have something special about you too, don’t you sir,” Angus said, and Magnus froze. He knew. “Avi, Johann, I’d like to speak to Magnus alone for a moment, if that’s okay.”

Avi and Johann looked at each other, before patting Magnus on the back, and going to sit with Brad.

“How much do you know?” Magnus hissed.

“Quite a bit, sir. You really don’t know how to talk quietly, or fight quietly. But your stuff has been stolen and I can help you find it. And before you say anything, yes I am a good detective. Your group of superheros consists of you, Taako, Merle Highchurch -who all study here- and Drew Davenport and Lucretia-“

“Okay, Okay, I get it,” Magnus said, “do you have any idea who took our stuff then?”

“Well, I’ve put together what I’ve overheard you saying about this person, by order of how often you’ve said them, and I’ve come up with several different suspects in this school. The moustache bit really threw me for a loop there, so we might be down to one. Marcus and Dorian, two teachers, and Jenkins, a student.”

Magnus thought for a moment. “Do you know where they might be?”

Angus lead Magnus to different classrooms, asking around for them, until they found Marcus, a biology teacher.

“Hi Angus!” He said as they walked in, “you on a little investigation?” 

Angus sighed. “Don’t patronise me, sir, this is serious. Where were you last Wednesday night?”

“Are you suspecting me of something, Angus.” Markus asked, indignantly.

“You match Magnus’s description. I’m also going to speak to Dorian and Jenkins. I am not personally involved here.”

“I was at home, watching tv, what’s happened?”

“The Cafe I work at has been stolen from,” Magnus said.

“Oh jeez, that sucks. Dorian should be in his classroom right now and Jenkins… he’s in my class, he hasn’t been here since Thursday.”

Magnus looked at Angus. That was suspicious.

“Thank you, sir,” Angus said, “I think you’ve helped our investigation out a lot.”

Magnus agreed to meet with Angus after class, and he brought Taako and Merle with him, in case they had to fight to get their stuff back.

“Jenkins?” Taako said after Magnus explained the situation, “I think he’s that guy in my math class that keeps calling everything we make ‘commoners food’. I’d love the chance to punch him.”

“Listen, if we can settle this peacefully, we should,” Magnus said, “we don’t want an actual casualty on our hands.”

“Maybe you don’t.” Merle scoffed.

“I would advise against killing him if I were you.” Angus had crept up behind them. “Jenkins lives pretty far away, he drives into school. If he’s not at home, I assume his parents know where he is.”

“Who’s the kid and why does he know peoples addresses?” Taako asked.

“I’m Angus McDonald and I’m the world's greatest detective!” He said.

“Alright, way to toot your own horn I guess.” Merle said. Magnus glared at him.

“I managed to narrow down this school of about five thousand people to three potential suspects, and found a student’s address in less than ten minutes. I can back up my claims.”

“Hey, we believe you,” Magnus said, “but seriously, what are we gonna actually do once we find him?” He lead everyone else over to his car.

“We tell him to give us our stuff back, and is he doesn’t, we punch him,” Merle said.

“I doubt that’d be a fair fight,” Angus said, getting into the passenger seat, “You’re three superheroes and he’s a normal human.”

“He might be able to use the powers, we don’t know,” Magnus said, “why would he want them though?”

“Patent it and sell it,” Taako said simply, “there’d be hella money in that.”

They fell into silence until they reached Jenkins’s house, aside from Angus occasionally giving directions.

“What do we say?” Magnus said, “I doubt we can just barge up there and say “hey, we’re superheroes and your son has stolen our superhero stuff. We’d like it back please.”

“Wait, does someone have an intimidating amount of paper?” Taako asked.

Angus looked confused, but took a stack of paper that, upon any level of inspection would clearly be psychology based, from his bag, and gave them to taako.

“Cool, lets go.” Taako got out of the car and rung the doorbell. Presumably, Jenkins’s mom answered. “Hey, is Jenkins here?”

“He’s in his room. He’s been sick all week.” His mom sounded concerned.

“Yeesh, that’s not great,” Taako said, “is he contagious? I’m in his math class and he’s missed just a whole lot of work. Teacher said that someone should explain it to him and I volunteered.”

“Aww, that’s kind of you,” his mom said, “Jenkins doesn’t get many visitors.” She opened the door and let them in. “Would you like anything to drink? I’ve got tea, coffee, juice.”

“We’ll be fine,” Magnus said, “hopefully we won’t be here too long.”

“I’ll take some tea,” Merle said. Magnus glared at him, but Merle nodded in a way Magnus assumes meant ‘go along with it.’ “Yeah, I’m not really all that great at math, I don’t know how much help I’ll be.”

Taako, Angus, and Magnus headed upstairs. “His room is the one with the train on it!” His mom called from downstairs. Sure enough, there was a train sticker on the third door down. Magnus opened it, and inside was Jenkins, looking not sick at all in the slightest.

“You’re actually from the school?” He said when he saw them, “just leave the work on my desk, I know how to do maths. I have something more important I’m working on that I don’t need interrupted.” He had a pendant in his hands, and was surrounded by papers covered in notes.

“What’s more important than math?” Taako asked, a touch too sincerely to be a joke.

“It’s none of your business,” Jenkins said. “It’s highly experimental technology. I don’t know how it works yet.”

“What’s it meant to do?” Angus asked.

“If my findings are correct, it can give you magic powers,” he said, “I could be the next superman! I could do whatever I want, and have whatever I want! If this is commercialised, I could make so much money you won’t even believe!”

“You just gotta get it to work,” Magnus said, “actually, that looks pretty familiar.”

“Oh, there’s no way you would have seen this before. It’s original. I- I made it myself.” Jenkins stuttered out the last part, obviously he didn’t have Taako’s knack for lying.

“Oh really?” Taako said, “because it seems we’ve got some right here” and he took his pendant out, held it tightly, and transformed. Magnus took that as his cue to do so himself. When they opened their eyes, Jenkins had dropped everything, and was scrambling backwards. He grabbed one of the pendants, and held it out in front of him like a shield.

“Help me please!” He said, waving it about uselessly.

“Huh, you’re kinda a garbage superhero,” Taako said, and then lit up his wand, pointing it at Jenkins. “Give it back or I blast you.” Magnus summoned his axe and pointed it at Jenkins. Jenkins slowly put the pendant down. Angus picked it up.

“Get the rest of it.” Magnus said, and Angus went around the room, collecting papers and tech, as well as a bag of broken pendants. Magnus slowly lowered his axe. Taako kept his wand raised.

“Can I hit him, just once?” Taako said, “if you had a class with him you’d want to as well.”

“Fine, but like, lightly.”

Taako grinned and one slow magic missile hit Jenkins. He flinched, but didn’t seem to be in serious pain.

“Stop being such an obnoxious dick all the time. Not everyone can do stuff as well as you and you have to live with that. Also no one cares about the stupid “intellectual” shows you like.”

“Have you got anything else you want to get off of your chest, sir?” Angus asked.

“No. I think I’m done now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is super rushed because I just wanted to fit the Murder On The Rockport Limited story in here somehow. There's really not much you can do with a train murder mystery when your characters can't conceivably be on a train, and also i don't want actual murder
> 
> Also no art for this chapter because there's no new mews
> 
> Also also let Magic Brian be nice. He was at the b.o.b. at one point, he had to be a somewhat nice boy


	5. Put your hand in mine, it’s a perfect fit

Life went back to normal, actual normal, after that. There was a lull in monster activity, and the Starblaster crew was left to develop their research and work on their fighting.

“We need a name for this being,” Magnus said one day, in the middle of clearing up a table, “we know it’s a being, right, and not some weird disease.”

“Bastard.” Taako said, not looking up from the cookbook he was reading, he had a piece of paper and a pen beside him, and he was noting down potential recipes to add to the Starblaster’s menu.

“What about The Hunger?” Lucretia said, sorting out the change from the till, “because of what happened to Brian.”

“Leave it to the English major to think of a fancy name,” Davenport said, he was still in the process of rebooting all of the data that Jenkins had messed with.

“Think of the astrophysics major to not name something at all.” Lucretia said back, sticking her tongue out at Davenport whilst he wasn’t looking. They fell into silence for a while, until Taako looked up at the clock and spoke.

“Uhh, heads up, guys, we might have a visitor in a few minutes.”

“What do you mean?” Davenport said, “you can invite friends to the cafe during work hours. This isn’t a formal business, Taako.”

“No, it’s not a friend, it’s my sister.” Taako sounded smaller than he usually did, like he was unsure of himself, “I think she’s one of us.” Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at him.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Lucretia asked, more cautious than accusatory.

“Well, at first, I didn’t actually know what this “pull” you guys were talking about actually was,” Taako explained, “and then I realised that I could feel it towards her. It just seemed so dangerous and I didn’t want both of us to get hurt, or worse. There needs to be one of us at home.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Lucretia said, “there’s gonna be a bunch of people that have the potential for having powers that we don’t have to employ.”

“Yeah, there’s been a few kids at dog training that I’m pretty sure have powers, but there’s no way I’m making them fight.” Magnus said. “If you want, we can just hang out, she doesn’t need to know.”

“What’s she like?” Merle asked, “I wanna know how she’s gonna fit in the team dynamic we’ve got going here.”

“I think you’ll be able to tell when you see her.” Taako said, and with that, the door opened.

Lup looked exactly like Taako. They were twins, presumably. Her hair was shorter, though, and she dressed in darker colours. Lucretia wasn’t sure what the pull felt like herself, but she she saw the boys look at each other, conforming their suspicions.

“Taako, you didn’t tell me your boss was a total babe.” Okay, so that’s what Taako meant.

Lucretia and Davenport looked at each other, simultaneously raising their eyebrows to imply that she was talking to the other one of them.

“Hello Lup,” Davenport said, “we think we have something to tell you.” Magnus nodded, they definitely did. Davenport got out the charts, and prepared himself for another long explanation, but Taako dragged Lup to the side and gave her the condensed version.

“There’s monsters, you have superpowers, help us save the world.” Taako said. Lup looked at him for a second, and then at the other people in the room.

“I know,” Lup said, to the surprise of everyone. “I’ve seen you guys fighting. I’ve seen the weird furry ears that Taako gets sometimes.”

“Okay,” Lucretia said, “well there was no way we were going to hide it from everyone.”

Lup looked down at the pendant, and it glowed, the slightest, faintest amount, before going back to normal. “Alright, superpowers, cool. Who do we fight?”

“Hunger.” Merle said.

“The Hunger,” Lucretia corrected, “it’s an entity? A force? That corrupts animals and now even humans, and makes them destroy everything in sight. We’re researching it, and keeping it at bay, but it’s growing stronger. We need more people on our side.”

“I’m the tank of our super team.” Magnus said.

“I’m a wizard of some sort.” Taako said, refusing to get down from Magnus’s shoulders.

“And I’m a healer, I think.” Merle finished off.

“And together you are?”

“Tres horny boys,” Magnus said, “We fought just a whole bunch of spiders.”

“We can’t exactly have you join them until we know you have powers.” Davenport said.

Lup didn’t seem all that bothered. “Makes sense. Should I just leave you all to it?”

“No, you can stay,” Lucretia said, perhaps a touch too urgently, “you don’t have to help us shut down, but you can have some coffee.”

“Only if I’m with you when I’m drinking it.” Lup winked. Lucretia felt a strange feeling in her heart. The same one that appeared when Merle used healing magic, or when she was too close to someone when they were transforming. Magnus nudged her.

“I can take over your jobs if you want,” he whispered, “you should spend time with her. For science.” Lucretia nodded, almost unsure of herself, and started formulating a last minute date plan in her head.

“Actually, why don’t we head down somewhere else?” She said, “I don’t want to get in the way of these guys.”

“Hell yeah, boys night!” Magnus said, and Davenport shook his head, already tired. Lup laughed, and took Lucretia by the hand, leading her out of the cafe, and into the street.

“What were you thinking of by somewhere else?” She asked.

“There’s a food truck in the park that’s open late. They make some really good donuts.”

“Alright, a walk in the park and some donuts, I like where this is going.” Lup took Lucretia by the hand and lead her down the road. Lucretia felt almost compelled to fall into step with her, and appreciate the newly night sky, and how Lup’s hand felt in hers, and the sound of the wind through the trees, and how Lup was really pulling off that denim jacket, and how Lucretia couldn’t find the words to describe the park so she didn’t focus on that, just Lup.

Just Lup and her roughly cut hair. Just Lup and the three piercings she had in each ear. Just Lup and the way the light danced in her eyes like fire. Just Lup and how she laughed, how she walked, how she, how she…

Lucretia stopped dead, shaking her head to get rid of the feeling. She could almost see the pink clearing from the edges of her vision.

“You’re one of us,” Lucretia said, she still wasn’t fully lucid.

Lup looked confused. “What do you mean?” She said, “I don’t know what’s happening. Last week I collapsed in class and ever since, everyone’s been acting weird, even Taako!”

“What happened when you collapsed, Lup.” Lucretia said, taking Lup’s hand again. The air became slightly heavier and there was a sweet scent around her, but Lucretia did her best to push down those feelings.

“There was a light? Yeah, a light, and when I woke up they said nothing was wrong with me. I’ve never fainted before, they asked if anyone in our family had a history of fainting.” She paused to laugh. “Their guess is as good as mine.”

“And since then?” Lucretia prompted.

“Everyone’s been acting… weird,” Lup said, “they’re scared of me, or they say I tricked them, which I don’t want to do!”

“Lup, this might be powers manifesting in a weird way,” Lucretia explained. Lup looked terrified.

“I don’t want them,” she said, almost whispered, “I just want to be able to talk to people, I don’t want to save the world. I’ve seen the shit Taako does.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Lucretia held her arms out, offering a hug. Lup wrapped her arms around Lucretia and Lucretia could hear her trying to hold back tears. “We can help you control your powers, and you don’t have to fight if you don’t want to.”

“Can we go back to getting donuts?” Lup asked, and Lucretia chuckled.

“Of course.”

They sat on a park bench in relative silence, watching the few remaining animals make their way home, and Lucretia quietly pondered about what Lup’s powers could be. From what Lup had said, and from what Lucretia herself had experienced, she could, almost without thinking, deceive, scare, and attract people. She’d never really seen powers manifesting in that way before, but then again, she had only seen four different variations of it.

“How’d you even come about discovering this superpower business?” Lup asked after a few minutes had passed.

“Coincidence,” Lucretia explained, “Davenport was researching for his degree and he kept coming across these anomalies, they were faint, but they were consistent, and he couldn’t explain them. He showed them to me, and we started research into this energy, which lead us to a series of unexplained deaths. It started with animals with no injuries or illnesses, and then people started going missing. It was only a few months ago that we saw one of the Hunger’s creatures in the flesh.”

“Makes sense,” Lup said, “and they’re getting stronger, I presume. They can infect people now, and those people can infect others.”

“So far only a person that previously had powers has been infected, everything’s too new to know any definites.”

“I might want to join,” Lup said, “at the very least, I want to put these powers to good use.” Lup smiled, and Lucretia felt that overwhelming infatuation again. She giggled, and apparently their hands were intertwined? Lucretia wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but Lup was there, so everything was fine.

A loud scream broke the illusion, and Lucretia jumped to her feet, immediately alert. The ground was torn apart by what appeared to be tree roots, which then sprouted vines, ensnaring anyone unlucky enough to by near them. A woman with a raven’s mask covering her face stepped around the vines casually. Her clothes were black and torn, save for the green sash around her waist. It was tied in a bow and seemed to float behind her.

She had magic, and yet Lucretia had never seen her in her life. In the few seconds it took to register this, the woman turned towards them, and the eyes of her mask glowed bright yellow. More vines sprung up from around them, and they dragged Lucretia to the ground. The woman walked up to them, then kneeled to be at Lucretia’s level. When she spoke, her voice was layered, and almost certainly not her own.

“Stop fighting back.”

Before Lucretia could say anything else, the woman ran off, calling out commands in a language even Lucretia couldn’t comprehend, and more destruction sprung up around her. The vines were slowly creeping up Lucretia’s arms and legs, and were growing increasingly tighter. All around them, people were being released from the vines, stumbling, zombie like, towards the raven woman.

“Hey Lup? If you’re going to make a decision, now would be a great time!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two whole chapters and no new mews, so no accompanying art for this one either.
> 
> Also, College, and life in general have been very stressful this past week, and I haven’t found time to write. The next chapter might be delayed. Just a forewarning.

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably going be a longer fic, and updates are hopefully going to be weekly on Wednesdays. Lets see how long that lasts. Also, follow me on Tumblr @tmvagabond


End file.
